Taking Back Sunday Band • Page 522

I know its been talked to death about the lack of Fazzi’s voice on New Again, but goddamn this video just makes another case for how good he was. Just listen to those harmonies.

 

he's insanely talented. he filled in effortlessly for Envy On The Coast on their tours too recently.

 

i saw envy play in like, some loft apartment above a surf shop on long island in like 2010 and fazzi was on the drums and it was awesome lol

 

Oh holy crap. I completely forgot about this show, but I went to that. Wild.

 

That EOTC live album is so goddamn good. Fazzi forever.

Edit: Another thing I’d like to add to this is that Fazzi is genuinely the nicest band dude I’ve ever met. Same with Fred.

 

Without the context of the post above yours I thought this was Japanese post-rock band Envy and honestly, that sounds sick. EOTC ruled too, though.

 

Huh, I get what you mean now. That's pretty neat actually.

 

I relistened to New Again because of this thread and woof... I know there's an impulse to critically re-evaluate "underrated" albums but this thing really ain't great. Adam's all over the place with his vocal delivery and pacing, the guitars squeltch and the main leads follow the vocal melody, the lyrics indulge their worst impulses, the intensity of the performances is all mismatched to the compositions, and the production is clearly by someone who does not understand why people like this band. Such a letdown, especially coming off Louder Now, which is like the pinnacle of third wave emo as radio rock.

I'd have kept about 4 songs and rerecorded all of them except "Everything Must Go" (which I'd remaster). Summer, Swing, Carpathia, EMG

 

Pretty much my exact list of what would make a good EP

I don't think the rest is worth trying to save lol

 

Is it true that the producer kept MF’s vocals off New Again because they thought he sang too well? I remember my first listen, it being so apparent that they no longer were doing the classic TBS dual-vocal thing.

 

Adam's vocals are painful to listen to on this album, which is why I dislike it so much. It'd be so much better if he wasn't clenching his gahdamn jaw on every single song. I remember the first time I finished listening to it (plus the bonus tracks), I realized that I was clenching my jaw too. This album gave me physical pain lmao.
On relistens it's grown on me though.

 

New Again is good

 

Yeah I tend to agree on Adam’s vocals. I’m guessing he was trying to find a more comfortable range/style since the WYWTB and Louder Now touring cycles were taxing on his voice but he wasn’t fully comfortable with it yet

 

Haven't listen to it in a while but I do recall "Lonely, Lonely" totally smokes

 

Lonely, Lonely rules, always thought it sounded like The Union pt.2 in a good way. A more rock’n’roll take on their upbeat and aggressive tendencies

 

I don’t know if it was because it was “too well” but it was definitely the producer who pushed Matt’s vocals off and that was obviously a huge mistake.

 

What a pleasant surprise to see all the New Again love in this thread! Definitely hasn’t been that way in the past lol

It’s still in my personal top 3 for this band.

 

Wasn’t Matt Squire the producer? Guess I can not only be mad at him for some of his input on Underoath’s Erase Me but for New Again as well lol

 

Adam’s vocals are at their worst on NA and the S/T. I think he was doing a lot of experimenting with his range and style on those to figure out what he was capable of with a changing voice and unfortunately the results are pretty mixed. Couple that with a lack of duel vocals and the results definitely contribute to those two being their weakest.

 

Listening now. A lot of great ideas but I feel like this was an album where Adam was constantly so worried about being called emo that they left a lot of the mainstays of TBS out

 

Yeah the lack of dual vocals is just dumb IMO, whether it's a "gimmick" or not, it's what made TBS, TBS for me. Limiting so much since Louder Now continues to be a mistake to me, and it's not shocking that a lot of my favorite songs post-LN are the ones that dipped back into that at least once in the song. On NA, Swing, title track, and Carpathia, for example. On S/T the clear best song on that album is This Is All Now and the dual vocals are a big part of it, same with Best Places, love John's little part in the 2nd verse of Faith rules, etc.

 

I just don’t see why everyone loves Swing. Like I do like the song but even as a person who NA is my favorite album, it’s one of my least favorite songs on the record

 

Nah, Dave Khane was the producer. He had previously worked with Paul McCartney, and I think it was Warner Bros. who basically said they had to work with him, which is crazy to me because leading up to Louder Now, they had met people like Rob Cavallo, Howard Benson and Gil Norton before they settled on Eric Valentine. Any one of those 3 would’ve been a way better choice, although Rob Cavallo was probably too busy with doing Paramore’s Brand New Eyes at the time. Or they could’ve gone back to Lou Giodano who did WYWTB. I just feel like those guys would’ve had a better understanding of the band and how to get the best out of them.

 

Why don't you SWING the fuck out of here?

 

Personally, I think Tidal Wave is the nadir of Adam’s vocal performances. “Fences” is damn near unlistenable.

Also, New Again has the best sounding drums in their entire catalog pretty easily, even if the rest isn’t quite there.